Stuart Hogg: Full-back will be fit for the Six Nations, says Rennie

Glasgow Warriors head coach Dave Rennie says Scotland full-back Stuart Hogg will be fit for the Six Nations next month.

Hogg has not played since injuring his hip during the Scots’ autumn series.

He narrowly missed a spot on the bench for Warriors’ European Champions Cup meeting with Leinster on Sunday.

“We’re confident he’ll be all right [for the Six Nations] – expect to see him on the park against Exeter [next week].” Rennie said.

“We think [Hogg will be back] next week. The original plan was to bring him off the bench this week and give him a start against Exeter. He’s close but we’re not going to push that, so expect him next week.

“We want him to be fully right and have a full week of training. The groin is good, he had a little complaint with his foot and hasn’t got the amount of running this week that we’d want so we’ll give him one more week.”

Glasgow sit bottom of Pool 3 and are already out of the Champions Cup with two games to play – Leinster away on Sunday and Exeter at Scotstoun on Saturday, 20 January.

Rennie says his side “certainly won’t be lying down” and insists the matches can prove beneficial to his Warriors, particularly with the Six Nations looming.

Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown (left) will see a specialist next week

“We’ve had a very good week of training and we’ve got quite a few young men on the park, so it’s a chance for them to play against one of the best teams in Europe and for us to find out a bit more about them,” the New Zealander added.

“We’re going to be missing a lot of international players in the next couple of months so it’s good that these boys get the blow torch run over them.

“Of course it’s good to win but it’s not going to make any difference to where we sit in this competition, but we’ll go and have a crack as we did in Montpellier. We certainly won’t be lying down.

“We’re using this as a couple of weeks when we can change things up. It’s less about Leinster and more about us, and a chance for us to tidy up various parts of our game. It’s been refreshing for the boys, good for us, and hopefully we see the evidence of that on Sunday.”

Hooker George Turner returns for Warriors after picking up a four-game ban for an infringement against Montpellier, relating to “playing an opponent without the ball”.

“He has probably learned from that,” said Rennie, who confirmed that Fraser Brown is seeing a specialist next week after suffering several concussions this season. “I thought four weeks was incredibly harsh, considering others got two weeks for shoulders into the head etc…

“It is what it is and all you want is consistency. He realises he made an error and he has been punished severely for it. He’s very keen to get back out there. It’s great to have George back in.”